Share this story

Mullen meets with President Karzai in Afghanistan, June 26. AP PhotoClose

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Afghanistan Saturday, three days after the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who’d been charged with the war there.

Mullen met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, where the top U.S. military official praised McChrystal, who he said had managed to “reduce civilian casualties, create good cooperation between the Afghan and international forces and strengthen and develop the Afghan forces," according to a statement from the Afghan presidential palace reported by the Associated Press.

Mullen stressed continuity of policy despite the shift in leadership from McChrystal to Gen. David Petraeus.

“The leadership has changed, but the policy hasn’t changed,” Mullen told the New York Times. “The strategy hasn’t changed. And we are very much committed to it.”

Mullen also met with the United States ambassador in Kabul, Karl W. Eikenberry, the Times reported, and, in an unscheduled private meeting on his way there, with Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke after their paths crossed as both their plans were refueling in Brussels.

6 Comments

The President told the West Point cadets "As your Commander in Chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined and worthy of your service". We are still waiting for him to clearly define his Afghanistan mission that is worthy of our troops losing arms and legs, suffering traumatic brain injury and death. Obama painted himself into a political corner by criticizing Bush for not focusing on "the good war" in Afghanistan. Now it is his war, with no mission or purpose other than to criticize Bush and "transition within 18 months". Not worthy of the service or sacrifice of our soldiers. We are still waiting, Mr. President.

When we initiate armed hostilities intended to remediate conditions inimical to democracy and peace, is it not also necessary to be prepared and ready in advance with knowledge of cultural parameters and social indicators that impact the totality of engagement outcomes either for success or failure? Or, are we to “just jump in” and “hope for the best?” In short, the question is: What did we know about Afghans and about Afghanistan that could have served as a mission foundation for eventual military success and democratic victory? Are not the halls of federal agencies replete with Middle-East experts, analysts, historians, ethnographers, linguists, economists, pundits, “opinionators,” sociologists, psychologists, etc . . . whose training, experience and qualifications provide our government with up-to-date information on all people groups, cultures, tongues (languages), and nations, including Afghanistan? The leadership role of the United States as the foremost representative democracy on the earth empowered with the light of spiritual Liberty has, since after the end of WWII, been mired, first by "the Cold War," during which communist dictatorship was the prime enemy of free enterprise capitalism and peaceful liberty, lasting up until 1991, to then be enthralled into regional debacles involving “surgical engagements” that militated to debilitate our capacities for effective peaceful democratic change initiatives around the world. During all that time, our capacity to teach and inspire for representative democracy was stalled during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and various other "police action necessities" like the Bay of Pigs fiasco, invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, and other military excursions and adventures giving more rationalizations to dictators like Castro to resist "Yankee imperialism." While the potentiality for representative democracy exists in Cuba, these historical realities are still with us given that there has been no substantial change in political process towards pluralistic elections and free voter participation. And then, after the “binary enemy camp syndrome” between East and West subsided at the end of the “Cold War,” we got smashed down with the "war on terrorism,” due to unresolved problems overflowing from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needing peaceful neighborly resolution for mutual security and regional prosperity. Why is it necessary to have a long-term foundational substance for our role in the world as opposed to reactionary ad hoc police actions and military campaigns that impair our capacity to plan for really victorious democratic restructuring and peaceful conflict resolution? “Situational ethics” has no firm solid absolute standards for a principled moral foundation as conditions change to transmogrify former “friends” into current “enemies.” Well, when the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan, beginning in 1979, our government engaged in actually creating Jihad, the Taliban and El Qaeda from the ground up in order to pressure and fight Russian military forces out of Afghanistan. The Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989. Success! But now that we find ourselves in a comparable situation, we have come face to face with our own creations in contending with the Taliban and El Qaeda for control of the country in order to organize it for representative democracy, peaceful due process of law, and free market capitalist structures. Yet, only with the help of its inhabitants can we establish a peaceful, free, and capitalist Afghanistan in just ways that do not repeat our mistakes in Vietnam and that will also dislodge ignominious comparison to Soviet failures in Afghanistan. That integrative process of national unification would probably be more successful if it involved factoring repentant Taliban and El Qaeda members who could be negotiated into the equation of peace for democratic restructuring and free market economic development. Hopefully, once the democratic future of Iraq and Afghanistan is secured and their infrastructure establishment is ensured, and we have brought in faithful hope the Israelis and Palestinians together for a just and lasting peace, we can envision focusing our international energies in sustaining constructive engagement in the world for representative democracy with values of law and justice, peaceful security and common prosperity. Let us firmly Hope with prodigious faith for miraculous expectations and outcomes. We have also had many successes and triumphs since WWII in restoring and establishing democratic representation in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and all of Europe, including Russia, and in many African countries like South Africa. We just need a good break to rest from our "labors of war" that have been draining our spiritual, moral and cultural reservoir of enlightened power for spreading peacefully secured ways and means of just democratic administration and representative political processes on the earth. It is no accident that people from all over the globe yearn to flock to our shores. Judeo-Christian principles of law, justice, equality, and prosperity that substantiate the American constitutional foundation are sound for securing our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for lawful living and peaceful prosperity, which the majority of nations and people groups do admire, to our credit and commendation. We hope and pray circumstances will change to facilitate our gaining more time and more resources, and more rest and more analytical knowledge, to help us fulfill our leadership mission in the world as we endeavor to establish constitutionally-founded law and freedom, representative democracy and free enterprise prosperity, among the nations. With the love of Christ our Redeemer and Savior who inspires us with liberty and compassion, we sustain our Hope with faith in divine Providence and the help of God in whom we trust.

When we initiate armed hostilities intended to remediate conditions inimical to democracy and peace, is it not also necessary to be prepared and ready in advance with knowledge of cultural parameters and social indicators that impact the totality of engagement outcomes either for success or failure? Or, are we to “just jump in” and “hope for the best?” In short, the question is: What did we know about Afghans and about Afghanistan that could have served as a mission foundation for eventual military success and democratic victory? Are not the halls of federal agencies replete with Middle-East experts, analysts, historians, ethnographers, linguists, economists, pundits, “opinionators,” sociologists, psychologists, etc . . . whose training, experience and qualifications provide our government with up-to-date information on all people groups, cultures, tongues (languages), and nations, including Afghanistan? The leadership role of the United States as the foremost representative democracy on the earth empowered with the light of spiritual Liberty has, since after the end of WWII, been mired, first by "the Cold War," during which communist dictatorship was the prime enemy of free enterprise capitalism and peaceful liberty, lasting up until 1991, to then be enthralled into regional debacles involving “surgical engagements” that militated to debilitate our capacities for effective peaceful democratic change initiatives around the world. During all that time, our capacity to teach and inspire for representative democracy was stalled during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and various other "police action necessities" like the Bay of Pigs fiasco, invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, and other military excursions and adventures giving more rationalizations to dictators like Castro to resist "Yankee imperialism." While the potentiality for representative democracy exists in Cuba, these historical realities are still with us given that there has been no substantial change in political process towards pluralistic elections and free voter participation. And then, after the “binary enemy camp syndrome” between East and West subsided at the end of the “Cold War,” we got smashed down with the "war on terrorism,” due to unresolved problems overflowing from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needing peaceful neighborly resolution for mutual security and regional prosperity. Why is it necessary to have a long-term foundational substance for our role in the world as opposed to reactionary ad hoc police actions and military campaigns that impair our capacity to plan for really victorious democratic restructuring and peaceful conflict resolution? “Situational ethics” has no firm solid absolute standards for a principled moral foundation as conditions change to transmogrify former “friends” into current “enemies.” Well, when the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan, beginning in 1979, our government engaged in actually creating Jihad, the Taliban and El Qaeda from the ground up in order to pressure and fight Russian military forces out of Afghanistan. The Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989. Success! But now that we find ourselves in a comparable situation, we have come face to face with our own creations in contending with the Taliban and El Qaeda for control of the country in order to organize it for representative democracy, peaceful due process of law, and free market capitalist structures. Yet, only with the help of its inhabitants can we establish a peaceful, free, and capitalist Afghanistan in just ways that do not repeat our mistakes in Vietnam and that will also dislodge ignominious comparison to Soviet failures in Afghanistan. That integrative process of national unification would probably be more successful if it involved factoring repentant Taliban and El Qaeda members who could be negotiated into the equation of peace for democratic restructuring and free market economic development. Hopefully, once the democratic future of Iraq and Afghanistan is secured and their infrastructure establishment is ensured, and we have brought in faithful hope the Israelis and Palestinians together for a just and lasting peace, we can envision focusing our international energies in sustaining constructive engagement in the world for representative democracy with values of law and justice, peaceful security and common prosperity. Let us firmly Hope with prodigious faith for miraculous expectations and outcomes. We have also had many successes and triumphs since WWII in restoring and establishing democratic representation in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and all of Europe, including Russia, and in many African countries like South Africa. We just need a good break to rest from our "labors of war" that have been draining our spiritual, moral and cultural reservoir of enlightened power for spreading peacefully secured ways and means of just democratic administration and representative political processes on the earth. It is no accident that people from all over the globe yearn to flock to our shores. Judeo-Christian principles of law, justice, equality, and prosperity that substantiate the American constitutional foundation are sound for securing our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for lawful living and peaceful prosperity, which the majority of nations and people groups do admire, to our credit and commendation. We hope and pray circumstances will change to facilitate our gaining more time and more resources, and more rest and more analytical knowledge, to help us fulfill our leadership mission in the world as we endeavor to establish constitutionally-founded law and freedom, representative democracy and free enterprise prosperity, among the nations. With the love of Christ our Redeemer and Savior who inspires us with liberty and compassion, we sustain our Hope with faith in divine Providence and the help of God in whom we trust.

The President told the West Point cadets "As your Commander in Chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined and worthy of your service". We are still waiting for him to clearly define his Afghanistan mission that is worthy of our troops losing arms and legs, suffering traumatic brain injury and death. Obama painted himself into a political corner by criticizing Bush for not focusing on "the good war" in Afghanistan. Now it is his war, with no mission or purpose other than to criticize Bush and "transition within 18 months". Not worthy of the service or sacrifice of our soldiers. We are still waiting, Mr. President